Cade and Odette

Napa Valley, CA

Outside Tasting at Cade

It’s not that we have not been out to wineries much lately; it is more that I’ve been too lazy to write things down.  We were in Napa a couple of months ago and one of our stops was at Odette Winery which is part of the Plumpjack group.  Plumpjack is the organization with ownership which includes Gavin Newson and Gordon Getty with businesses throughout Northern California.  We have been in the past to Plumpjack Winery on the Oakville Crossroad in the valley as well as Plumpjack restaurant in Squaw Valley.  Late last summer we visited Cade Winery, another Plumpjack property on Howell Mountain east of Saint Helena.  We had time to visit one winery as we were on our way to a wedding taking place later in the afternoon in Yountville so I chose to make it to a high profile winery, Cade.  We’ll talk about both stops here.

Cade is a pretty easy ride from the valley floor up Spring Mountain road off the Silverado Trail.  It is barely a 10 minute ride from St. Helena.  Cade like the other Plumpjack properties is a simple yet classic designed facility. You pull into the property to the backside of the tasting room and do not get the wow factor until you enter the building.  The room overlooks the valley towards the south and west with a full 15 foot tall window.  Tastings are done on an appointment basis with limited group sizes.  Tastings are done on the hour and the four others scheduled for our group were no-shows.  We received a private tasting sitting on white leather couches overlooking the valley.  Our host sat with us, was friendly and knowledgeable and we received ample attention.  The wines poured were all Cade labeled and all excellent.  We started with Sauvignon Blanc which was terrific ($28).  We also had the Napa Valley Cab, the Howell Mountain Cab and the Estate Cab.  Maybe because we were somewhat cognizant of the prices for the two upper end Cabs but we were pretty satisfied with the Napa Valley Cab.  The blends seem to have more rounded flavors and are possibly more ready to drink right out of the bottle while the other two possibly needed some extra swirls from us.  The Howell Mountain was $80 while the Estate was $150 per bottle and only available in two packs. 

 

We had out final taste outside as we had reached our 1 hour window for the luxury inside seats.  The outside seats had the same views as from the inside with several seating options.  Both inside or out could accommodate groups of any size.

Odette as seen from the Highway

Odette is the newest property for the Plumpjack group.  It is located on the Silverado Trail right across the street from Pine Ridge winery.  We both commented that despite being close to the Trail it was very quiet.  We had a 2:30 tasting appointment and walked into a fairly full tasting room full of mostly what seemed to be 30 something women.  I asked our host Amanda if this was the norm and her comment was that they had two good looking male hosts along with her.  It turned out there were more guys than I had first thought.  We had five tastes starting with an Adaptation Chardonnay.  Adaptation is their second label, slightly lower priced label.  It was a very good non-malolatic/steel Chard which we liked very much.  We then had the Adaptation Cabernet and then a Cade Cab, a Plumpjack Cab and the Odette Cab.   As before we enjoyed the Cade standard Napa Valley Cab the best of the four.  The Plumpjack was probably our least favorite at $104 a bottle but certainly a very good bottle.  We are talking an 8 vs. the 9 rating for the $60 Cade. 

 

The tasting at Odette is either stand-up inside at the bar or outside at various table arrangements.  We started inside but eventually found a spot outside in the sun.  The building at Odette is again simple but tasteful.  We imagined designing our Palm Springs house similar with a garage type style door opening instead from the inside out to the pool instead of the outdoor tasting area.  The tasting at Odette is not all that personalized or at least it was not on this day mainly because of the crowd.  And there were some older folks that arrived later so we were not the only folks there over 35. 

Outside tasting area at Odette



For tasting value Odette is a good deal at $25.  For wow factor Cade is great as it really is does have a great view from the top of the hill.  The Cade tasting is $40 and purchases do not eliminate the fees.  We did buy a couple of bottles at Cade, a Sauv Blanc and a NV Cab but did not buy anything at Odette.  We would not hesitate to take any group back to Odette while Cade is more of a special event spot.

 

What we liked- Odette had a nice Fun factor and Maureen liked the retail.  Both places are classy well run operations.  The wines are across the board very good.  Odette is really easy to get to

 

What we bought- The Cade NV Cabernet at $60 and the Sauv Blanc at $36.

 

Vitals-

 

Odette Estate Winery

2998 Silverado Trail

Napa, CA 94558

(707) 224-7533

Odetteestate.com

 

Cade Estate Winery

360 Howell Mountain Road

Angwin, CA  94508

(707) 965-2746

Cadewinery.com